
THE STATE CAPITOL— NORTH FRONT 



Capitol 



^rrparcii by (J5corgc JV. TCriuts, (Uitstobiaxt 



v^ 



Copyrighted, 1910. by 
Geo. a. Lewis 



©C1.A261726 




THE STATE CAPITOI — WEST FRONT 



IjTHE following amounts have been appropriated for the new Capitol by the various Legis- 



latures 



1904. For the erection of the new building $1,000,000 

1905. To purchase a new location 40,000 

1905. Special appropriation for additional ground . . . . 20,000 

1906. To cover cost of change in interior finish .... 250,000 

1906. To enrich Pediment 40,000 

1908. To carry on work and furnish building 460,000 

1910. To complete landscaping of grounds 50,000 

Total $1,860,000 



(Host of ll]c (Capttol 



Amount expended for building $1,180,434.80 

Amount expended for grounds 63,793.00 

Amount expended for furniture, carpets, marble floors, mural paintings, etc. . 141,881.00 

Amount expended for metal file cases, vaults, etc 45,188.00 

Amount expended for power plant 90,000.00 

Amount expended for enrichment of Pediment 40,000.00 

Amount expended for heating, lighting and electrical fixtures 108,703.20 

Amount expended for terrace and landscaping 190,000.00 



Total amount expended $1,860,000.00 



Of this amount there remained unexpended April 1, 1910, $59,992.98. 
The fees of the architect, Frank M. Andrews— amounting to $66, 786.46— are included in 
the above figures. 




THE PEDIMENT 



^tmmstniis of ^iiiit ^onst 



Total length of Building, from east to west 403 feet 

Depth of central part of Building, through the vestibule 186 feet 

Diameter of Rotunda 57 feet 

Height of Building from terrace floor to top of parapet wall 80 feet 

Height of Dome from terrace floor to top of lantern 212 feet 

Width of Architectural Terrace, at the front and rear of the wings of the building and 

at the east end 30 feet 

Width of Architectural 7 errace at the west end and rear of central pavilion 40 feet 

Length of Pediment from east to west 74 feet 

Height of Pediment from base line to apex 25 feet 



©ll^ ^tin ^Mt ^mxst 



[HEN the Legislature of 1904 met the State of Kentucky was practically out of debt, and 
a bill appropriating $1,000,000 for the purpose of erecting a new State Capitol passed 
that body with but one dissenting vote, and a commission to carry out the provisions of the 
act was appointed, consisting of the following: 



J. C. W. Beckham, 
H. V. McChesney, 
S. W. Hager, 
N. B. Hays, 

H. M. BOSWORTH, 



Governor 
Secretary of State 
State Auditor 
Attorney General 
State Treasurer 



Henry B. Ware was made Secretary to the Board. 

It was provided by the act above referred to that the new building was to be erected upon 
the site of the old, but when the Architect, f>ank M. Andrews, of Dayton, Ohio, presented 
his plans it was found that the old location was not suitable for the proposed structure, and a 
special session of the Legislature was called to meet in January, 1905, to consider the matter. 
The result was that the location was changed to the south side of Frankfort, $40,000 appropri- 
ated for the purchase of grounds and the farm known as the " Hunt Place," containing thirty- 
three acres, secured for the purpose. 




THE MAIN CORRIDOR 



A contract for the erection of the building was let to the General Supply and Construction 
Company of New York, and on the 14th of August, 1905, the ground was broken for the 
foundation, and on the 16th of June, 1906, the corner stone was laid. The work progressed 
rapidly, but was scarcely under roof when, on the 1st of January, 1908, there was a change 
of administration, and the following Commissioners took charge of affairs: 



Augustus E. Willson, 
Ben L. Bruner, 
Frank P. James, 
James Breathitt, 
Edwin Farley, 



Governor 
Secretary of State 
State Auditor 
Attorney General 
State Treasurer 



Capt. Edward M. Drane was made Secretary. 

Under this new management the work was not permitted to lag, contracts for the comple- 
tion and furnishing of the building were let, and on the 26th of July, 1909, Dr. Ben L. 
Bruner, Secretary of State, moved into and formally occupied his apartments in the northwest 
portion of the building. The other State officials soon followed, and by the 1st of December 
every department was comfortably located in new quarters, and on the Tuesday after the Hrst 
Monday in January, 1910, the first session of the Kentucky Legislature to be held in the new 
Capitol was opened. 

The building is one of the handsomest, if not the most handsome, in the United States, 



contains two hundred and seventy-four rooms and apartments, and is something of which every 
Kentuckian can be proud. 



'CEljc ^xtetor 



'TjTHE face-work of the building is constructed of ooHtic hmestone, from Bedford, Indiana, 
with a Vermont granite base, and rests upon a concrete foundation as soHd as the ever- 
lasting hills. It is surrounded by an architectural stone terrace, with concrete floor covered 
with vitrified brick. The outer walls of the building are ornamented with seventy Ionic col- 
umns~thirty-two on the front, four on either end and thirty on the back. All of them are 
monoliths, twenty-seven feet ten inches tall and weigh about eighteen tons each. 



©ll^ Pebtmeitt 



/Aver the north entrance is richly sculptured, and adds greatly to the appearance of the build- 
ing. The heroic figure in the centre represents Kentucky, standing in front of a chair 
of state. Her immediate attendants are Progress, who is seen kneeling at her feet, pushing a 
winged wheel; History, on the right, is recording the events of the richly peopled past; Plenty 
stands in the left background with a cornucopia overflowing with fruit and grain. Art is rep- 
resented on the right by a female figure with palette and brush in her hand; Labor, in the 
rear facing Art, by a male figure stripped to the waist and grasping a hammer. An agri- 




THE STATE RECEPTION ROOM 



cultural aspect is introduced by groups of cattle and horses,, with male and female figures wreath- 
ing the picture creatures as in festal array. The idea of the statue is portrayed in the two ends 
of the Pediment by its grouping, and its indivisibility and stability are shown in the State seal, 
which is indicated at the left end by a group of two figures tying fascets, signifying strength and 
unity. At the other end is an Indian group of two figures, suggestive of pioneer days, crouch- 
ing with fear and watching the approach of civilization. 

The Pediment was designed by Chas. Henry Niehaus, of New York, who had the con- 
tract, and received $40,000 for its execution. He employed an Austrian sculptor by the name 
of Peter Rossak to do the work. 



©Ip ^ittraxice 



y|THERE are three entrances to the building, one facing the east and one at the west, while 
the principal doors face the north. In approaching these latter from the city it is neces- 
sary to ascend a fiight of twenty-four steps, in rests of eight steps each, to reach the terrace floor. 
The steps are of Georgia granite and the terrace floor is of concrete covered with vitrified brick 
(the reasons for the latter being that it is a more secure footing in winter and does not reflect light 
and heat in summer), while the three steps from the terrace to the doors are of granite. At the 
east entrance the terrace is reached by a few steps from the driveway, but at the west entrance there 
are two flights of twenty-one steps of granite each—one ascending from the north and the other 
from the south. The outer vestibules are of Bedford limestone, but the interior walls are of 



Georgia and the floors of Tennessee marble. On either side of the north entrance to the 
rotunda there is a bronze tablet— the one on the west bearing the names of the Commissioners 
who had charge of the earher stages of the erection of the building, and the one on the east 
bearing the names of the Commissioners who completed it. 



®l|C^ 



OUl^ 



'jjjS A close copy of the dome of the Hotel des Invalides, in Paris, France, and in the centre 
^ of the rotunda is a circle representing the position of the red Pinnish marble sarcophagus 
containing the ashes of the great Napoleon. The floor of the rotunda is composed of several 
kinds of marble— Light Italio, blue and pink Tennessee and Verde Antique— while the walls are 
of Georgia marble. Upon the top of the dome there is a lantern containing four large 5,0U0 
candle-power arc lights, while the interior of the dome is lighted by 800 incandescent bulbs— 120 
in the eye, 120 reflected lights at the head of the pilasters, 120 upon the walls of the balcony, a 
line of 320 around the cornice and 120 in the pendants on the walls at the second floor. When 
all are burning the eflFect is magnificent. 

'Oll|c (!IolTi^0r0, ^tatrluays nnh ^ixbt 

TlTOR elegance of finish these features are surpassed by no State Capitol and are equalled by 
CZi few. The floors of the corridors are of Tennessee marble, trimmed with Verde Antique 



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-JJLI 1! 



* ■■■:«' Mfeir^j^. 



•> ■ ft«» .*iiitf :: ^ttl!tttll 'i^^. 



CHAMBER OF COURT OF APPEALS 



and Ivight Italic marble, the wainscoting and pilasters are of Georgia marble, while the walls 
are covered with canvass, painted burnt orange, and the stairways are of Georgia marble, l^he 
nave is beautiful indeed, being generous in length and breadth, and is ornamented with thirty- 
six magnificent monolithic columns of Vermont granite, supporting massive cornices. 



^ural |Jatittiuq5 



'/jTHE lunettes of the nave are ornamented with handsome oil paintings, which are exceed- 
ingly interesting, and treat of early events in the history of Kentucky. The subject of 
that in the east wing is ' Boone and Companions taking their First \^iew of the Kentucky 
Valley"— an event which transpired from the top of Pilot Knob, at the mouth of Red river, 
in Powell county, but the artist has placed the figures in front of the Boone monument in the 
Frankfort cemetery, and has them looking towards the new State Capitol, giving it a local color 
pleasing to the residents of the Capital city. 

The picture in the west lunette tells the story of the " Treaty of Wataga, " which was 
concluded near Fort Wataga, Tennessee, in 1775. By its terms the Overhill IVibe of the 
Cherokee Indians, through their chief Ocon-os-to-to, or Dragging Canoe, sold to Daniel 
Boone for the Transylvania Land Company, the lands that they claimed in Kentucky for 
i^lO,000, or about $50,000. The Indians claimed the territory extending from the Cumber- 
land river on the west to the Cumberland mountains and Kentucky river on the east, and from 



the Ohio river south. The Transylvania ( Beyond the Forest) Land Company was a corporation 
composed of North CaroHna capitalists, headed by Judge, or Colonel, Richard Henderson, 
who proposed to exploit the lands in Kentucky. After the treaty was concluded Ocon-os- 
to-to told the white men that they had purchased an exceedingly beautiful country, but it was 
a Dark and Bloody Ground, and they would have trouble in maintaining it— the origin of 
the term "Dark and Bloody Ground," as applied to Kentucky. As the Cherokees were 
a Southern tribe, whose home was in Alabama and Georgia, which had been endeavoring for 
years to hold the territory against the Shawnees, Miamis and Mingos, of the North, it is sup- 
posed that he spoke from ample experience. 

Colonel, or Judge, Henderson called a meeting of the "Proprietors of the Transylvania 
District," as the Land Company was called, at Boonesborough, and that organization estab- 
lished a code of nine laws for the government of the territory, which soon became onerous 
to the settlers, and they appealed to the Virginia Legislature for relief. The Legislature re- 
fused to recognize the sale by the Indians to Henderson and his associates, claiming that this 
territory was previously ceded to the English Crown by the Six Nations, and was included in 
the charter granted to the colony of Virginia; but rather than deprive the Transylvania people 
of any benefit they might derive from the money they had paid the Cherokees, the Legislature 
gave to them 200,000 acres of land— what is known in Western Kentucky as the " Henderson 
grant," beginning at the mouth of Green river, following its meanders up stream for twenty 
miles and extending eight miles east and west from the river. Colonel, or Judge, Henderson 
afterwards settled upon part of this grant, and it was in his honor that the city and county of 



Henderson were named. His relations still reside there, and to-day are among the most prom- 
inent citizens of that section. 

These pictures were executed by Gilbert White, of New York, at an expense to the State 
of S7,000. 



®iic mutts 



'^[ifPON the first floor are located file rooms and the offices of the Departments of Ay;ricul- 
^ ture, Insurance, Land, Board of Control, Education, Adjutant General, Railroad and 
Prison Commissioners and Custodian, as well as the rooms of the Historical Society and La- 
dies' Reception. All these apartments, except Education (which is finished in mahogany), are 
finished in oak and furnished with the same. 

On the second floor are the executive offices, viz: Governor's, Secretary of State, Aud- 
itor, Attorney General and Treasurer, the walls of all of which are hung with velvet and hand- 
somely furnished in mahogany. On this floor are also the office of the Clerk of the Court 
of Appeals, the Court Room, Board Room, Law Library, Judge's Consultation and private 
chambers and State Reception Room. 

The third story is devoted mainly to the halls of legislation, cloak, committee and retiring 
rooms, though the Miscellaneous Library, State Inspector and Examiner and Superintendent of 
Public Printing have quarters upon this floor. 



^tate ^cceptbit ^{ooiit 



YjTHIS is one of the most beautiful apartments in the buildino;, the design being of the Louis 
XIV period, and resembles very much the Throne Room in Charlottenberg Palace near 
Berlin. It is handsomely furnished with hand-carved Circassian Walnut, the walls are deco- 
rated with hand-painted cartoons of the Gobelin Tapestry and the hard-wood floor covered 
with a rug of the French Ellane quality, manufactured especially for the purpose. This 
room represents an expense of $9,300~the furniture and window hangings costing ;^5,000, the 
wall decorations ^2,500 and the carpet $1,800. This latter was woven at Desseldorf, Austria, 
the work requiring four months' time, and it is so very heavy that the loom was broken three 
times. It is sixteen by fifty-four feet and weighs 1,027 pounds, is said to be the largest spe- 
cially designed rug ever woven, and the most splendid specimen of the Louis XIV^ period extant 
in the Lhiited States. 

In its manufacture it was necessary to cut by hand sixty-four knots to the square inch of 
its surface, and as it covers something like 125,000 square inches, an idea can be formed of 
the tedious nature of the work. 

The furniture was manufactured in this country, the carving being executed by foreign 
workmen, however, some of them still wearing the wooden shoe of Germany. The brocade 
velvet with which it is upholstered was manufactured at the Convent of St. Cloud, France, and 
cost the contractor $13.50 per yard. The handsome center table, which attracts so much at- 
tention, as an individual cost $l,100~its top of Breche Violette, an Italian marble, having been 




SENATE CHAMBER 




HALL OF HOUSE OF REPRF,SENTAT1VE3 



selected to harmonize with the wall trimmings, which are Scagliola, made in imitation of the 
Italian Paonazzo marble. 

(Emtrt ^xoctiit 

Yl, HE chamber of the Court of Appeals is indeed handsome, perhaps more so than any other 
court room in the United States. The walls are paneled in solid Honduras mahojrany, 
the ceiling is Dutch metal leaf laquered to represent "old bronze," paneled, with egg and dart 
mould effect, and the furniture of mahogany, upholstered in oli\e green leather, llie light 
fixtures are of brush brass, satin finish, and are exceedingly beautiful. This room represents 
an expense of something like $12,000. 



'^egtslatr^e ^hHs 



■TjTHE chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives are both finished with Scagliola, 
the former in imitation of the Sienna and the latter the Numidian marble. The furniture 
is mahogany of the richest and most substantial character, leather upholstering, and the retiring 
and reception rooms are equally as comfortably and luxuriously fitted up. Each member is sup- 
plied with a roll-top mahogany desk, with indi\ idual electric light, and call button for the pur- 
pose of summoning a page. 



^aseutcitt aitit J[oitrtl| (3[ioor 

^IIN THE basement and upon the fourth or gallery floor there are numerous file and storage 
'^ rooms, where the old books and papers can be safely deposited for a hundred years to 
come. Upon these floors have been placed the heating and ventilating machinery, and the 
appliances for washing the air before it is forced into the building. 

TiTROM which the heat, light and water supply is obtained, is located below the brow of the 
C^\ hill at the eastern edge of the grounds, upon the line of the Lawrenceburg turnpike, on 
the Kentucky river, and is connected with the building by a tunnel six and a half by five by nine 
hundred feet. It is supplied with the latest and most improved machinery for furnishing light 
and heat and appliances for pumping, refrigerating and filtering water, and for vacuum clean- 
ing. This plant cost $90,000. 



historical ^0omg 



A 



T THE south-west angle of the first floor are located the apartments of the Historical So- 
ciety, where are displayed the portraits of all but seven Governors of the State as well as 




THE HISTORICAL ROOMS 



of Boone, Kenton and other distinguished Kentuckians, articles of historical interest, old man- 
uscripts, etc. Here hours can be profitably spent, in comfort and with pleasure. 

JIftk Jioom of ^ttxtinv^ of ^init 

l\ T THE north-west angle of the building is located on the first floor a room in which much 
C' can be learned of the early history of Kentucky, for here are on file the executive papers 
of every Governor, from Isaac Shelby to Gov. Willson, the bound volumes of the enrolled 
bills passed by the Legislatures from that of 1792 down to date, the executive journals of every 
Governor from the first to the present, and such historic documents as the resolutions of '98. 
It is alone interesting to see the signatures of the earlier Governors and the splendid penman- 
ship of the days of quill pens and handmade paper. 



©Op of ti]c ^mnt 



TjTO REACH the lantern on top of the dome is rather a dangerous task. The elevator is 
taken to the fourth floor, a flight of steps carries you to the square of the dome, where 
you enter a shaft five feet in diameter and wind around a spiral flight of seventy-eight steps, 
next ascend straight up a ladder of fifty rungs, and then crawl through a small opening in the 
floor of the lantern. The view is splendid, but the height too dizzy for the average person. 



^utallg 



HEN you have seen the very many beautiful features of Kentucky's new Capitol you will 
be ready to exclaim with the hosts who have preceded you, "The half has not been 



told." 





PRIVATE OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE— FIRST APARTMENT OCCUPIED IN IHE BUILDING 




THK EAST END OK CORRIDOR 



ROBERTS PRINTING CO 

PRINTERS 

FRANKFORT. KY 



m^ S 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 571 890 9 # 



